William J. Henry was born December 2, 1867, in Ohio. In 1882, at about the age of 15, he was converted at a meeting conducted by D. S. Warner and A. J. Kilpatrick in the home of Mother Sarah Smith in Jerry City, Ohio. He entered the ministry in 1891, around the age of 23. In 1893 he felt the call to carry the gospel to foreign lands and set sail to Liverpool, England, where he established a congregation of the Church of God.
On November 30, 1893, he married Luella Byers, a sister of Andrew L. Byers and Jacob W. Byers. William Henry was a very active writer of song lyrics, his songs numbering more than 300. It is said that many were never published in the Church of God songbooks. But we are thankful for those excellent songs that we do have from him, such as Evening Light Songs #253, “Love Each Other,” the words of which he and his wife, Luella, wrote together, that were set to music by her brother, Andrew.
In the early 1900’s, William and Luella moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he started a congregation and pastored for 13 years. While living in Springfield, Luella passed away on June 16, 1910, at the young age of 38. She is buried in the Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Springfield. After Luella’s death, William Henry remarried and relocated in Toledo, Ohio. He died October 26, 1955, at the age of 87.